Warrior
by BenMused
Summary: The story continues DIRECTLY after AVP ended. Chapter Ten: A horrible discovery forces Lex to rethink her standing in the battle. Thus is the life of a Warrior. Lex's POV.
1. Chapter One: The End

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**Authors Note: **_Well, here it is, my first ever attempt at writing anything Alien or Predator related, even though I have been a fan since the very beginning. I grew up on these movies! Enjoy._

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**Warriors**

**Chapter One:** _The End_

Life used to be good for me. 'Used to' being the key words in this sentence. I remember what life was like before _it_ happened. I hadn't expected to be asked to lead an expedition into the Antarctic, to find an ancient temple that for all intents and purposes, should not have existed at all. The expedition should not have gone on at all either. I knew it before I got into it- that the people I was expected to lead were not ready for what they were getting into- and that was when I still thought everything was normal about the situation. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I hadn't been ready for a fight for survival underneath tons of snow and ice and inside an Aztec temple. I hadn't wanted to be the one who had to survive long enough to watch all of her friends be murdered before her eyes. I hadn't wanted to be the one who had to fight her way along with some creature as my only hope for survival, when he might have turned on me whenever he wanted to. But in the fight for survival, sacrifices must be made, and dangerous moves must be made. I understood that now.

As I watched the giant one, 'The Queen', I guess she could be called, tumbling down off the edge of the cliff, into the dark waters of the Antarctic, I felt relief. A silent laugh of triumph build up inside me as I watched her, flailing helplessly on the surface of the waters for a few moments, until the weight of the water tower pulled her down, her hand reaching upwards, as a last plea for help. Her reign had ended before it had begun, her kingdom fallen.

I should have been happy. But my mind returned to my helper- the Predator. I had no clue if that was really what they were called, but that was what Sebastian had dubbed them as, so I went along with it. I forced my feet to turn, and to look away from the waters. My eyes scanned the frozen tundra before me, looking for the Predator. I found him a moment later, lying on his back in the snow. My heart thumped a little bit harder in my chest as I approached his body.

Not really sure of what I felt towards the creature that had saved my life more then once, I knelt down next to his dying body. The scar on my face still burned, but it served as a reminder to what we had been through, and that I was- for a time- looked upon as an equal in his eyes. I felt like crying. I wasn't sure if I actually was at the time, but my eyes burned like I was. Those Serpents, those Aliens, had killed every friend I had made here in this place. And I was left wondering how exactly was I supposed to go on living with the knowledge I now had.

Lights blared suddenly down upon me- just as the Predator's head fell, finally breathing his last, blinding me for a moment- until my eyes adjusted to the light. I looked upwards and gasped suddenly, as I watched half a dozen more of the Predators appearing out of thin air as they powered down their invisibility shields.

Fear pulsed through me again, and I wished my fri- the Predator, was alive again, here to tell them all we had been through. To come this far, and survive it all, just to be murdered while I was almost home free. Then I remembered- the markings the Predator had burned into my skin with the alien blood.

I turned my head slowly, exposing my cheek to the tall creature, which seemed to be the leader. He held a lethal looking staff in his hand and his leathery dreadlocks hung down over a cloak. I tried not to look in his direction too often, not wanting to anger him any more then I might already have. He growled in my direction and nodded to his comrades, who had moved forward and were collecting the body of the Predator. Then, he held out the spear towards me.

_'Here it comes.'_ I thought to myself, just waiting for the moment that the blades would slip through me like I was butter, cutting me through and spilling my blood onto the snow. But the moment didn't come. The Predator pressed a button on his staff, and I watched the blades retract into it quickly. I jumped on instinct, my adrenaline racing as the Predator handed me the weapon.

Nodding in understanding, I reached out a gloved hand and took it willingly. I understood that the brand that had been placed upon me set me apart now. I had become a hunter, in the hunters' eyes. Watching with wonder in my eyes, I observed the Spaceship taking off, slowly lifting off from the ground and swerving above my head before lifting off into the upper atmosphere. Left alone in the arctic tundra, I finally took the time to observe my surroundings a bit more.

In the battle against the Queen, everything had been a blur, a rush of adrenaline and blood traveling to my brain. It was a battle to survive, done without much thinking, at least up until the very end. The word 'run' had been the only one to travel through my mind for the most part, filling me with a primal, animal like fear. So now, I finally had the time to actually look around me, and take in what was left of the Whaling Station that we had arrived at before our exploration.

There wasn't much left, that's for sure. Cliffs had formed everywhere around me, a result of the explosion I had survived through, where the snow and ice had fallen into the sea. But to my left, was some sort of truck that sat in the midst of a battle zone left alone and with its lights on. Lights on, meant that the keys were still in the ignition, which also meant a way out of this frozen wasteland without freezing off a few toes in the process. My hope was renewed.

Immediately I started towards it, keeping a calm and cool pace as I stepped towards the vehical. Until I heard it.

_Thump._

The sound was hollow and somewhat metallic and scared me more then anything else that day had, simply because I hadn't been expecting it at all. A gasp rolled across my tongue and chocked against my lips as I stopped my approach suddenly. My grip tightened on the weapon in my hand, and I found myself wishing that the Great Predator had showed me how to use it before whisking themselves out of our galaxy.

_Thump. Thump._

My head snapped back up towards the truck again, and located the source of the noise. It was coming from the opposite side. Sparing a glance at my weapon, which looked highly un-volatile, with the blades retracted like they were. But I could use it as a club if worse came to worse. It was now or never. Forcing myself to move, I slid my feet across the snow covered ground slowly, my hand desperately searching for some sort of button, or latch, or release- something to get the weapon back into working mode. I had made it towards the closest side of the truck now, which was when a new noise startled me.

_Bang!_

_Whir._

The first noise had again come from the other side of the truck, while the second had come from my weapon, the blades flying outwards from each end, becoming more spear like, and taking on a much more dangerous quality. Feeling slightly more confidently, I eased my way around the corner of the truck, and face to face with another nightmare.

Black exoskeleton, laced with yellow gridlines and a broken scorpion-like tail stood there, feasting on the flesh and bones of one of the men who were supposed to have been working on digging the hole down to the pyramid. His stomach was split open, with the cut precise, and something at the back of my mind told me that he had been dead for some time- murdered by something with more advanced methods of killing. A Predator. The Alien, however it had escaped from it's doom as its queen had done, must have happened upon the corpse, and stopped for a meal to pick up its strength.

"Hey!" I shouted at it, raising my voice and holding my weapon out in front of me. I was a warrior now, and as much as I really didn't want to have to fight anymore, I did purely because of the fact that I had no idea how those creatures multiplied, and I didn't want to let it go now- to have to face twice as many in the future. "You want your meal?" I asked it as it turned to face me, blood and saliva dripping from its gaping maws. "You're going to have to work for it."

With a snarl the creature lunged at me, and I rolled sideways on instinct, out of the way, my shoulder hitting the ground and being jolted rather painfully on a rock. I groaned and looked back up, to see the alien moving closer again, it's tail- no longer bleeding- swinging behind it in long, slow swipes. I held up my weapon again, as I got back to my feet. Swinging the spear at it I missed the first time, almost losing my footing with the force of the blow. Trying once more, with a more controlled attack, just as the alien lunged again, I swiped off one of its front claws.

The acid spilt all over the ground, spreading in a circular motion for a moment, until smoke began to rise and the snow began to melt away with lightning speed, swallowing the claw up and creating yet another crevice for me to avoid during the battle. The alien with the gridlines etched into its flesh began to screech loudly, piercing the cold and silent night air with a scream of pain. I cringed and backed away from the crevice, edging my way around it to sturdier ground.

The break in battle didn't last long, when the alien's screeches became a hiss, and it stared up at me with hollow eyes- deciding just how to kill me. I could see its inner jaws moving with anticipation, sliding down an inch, and back into its mouth, just waiting for the chance to pierce my flesh.

"Come on!" I shouted at it, shaking my weapon in front of me. "Lets go!" I called out, just as it pounced again. Its movements were refined, graceful and catlike- Pouncing the same way a tiger does in the jungle while chasing his prey. I found myself screaming as I held my ground, holding my weapon out in front of me, and impaling the monster on the three blades on the far end. The weight of the creature pressed down on me, pressing himself further down on the blades.

His free claw swiped at me and tore into my left shoulder, deep enough to make me lose my grip and watch my arm dangle helplessly at my side for a moment, as I lost my footing again and fell backwards. The other of the blade sliced my right side, only deep enough to draw blood. I cried out in pain, tears rolling down my cheeks as the alien in front of me began to die, the acid burning away the snow around it. It's inner jaws snapped helplessly in my direction, but it was too far away from me now to do any damage.

With the last of my strength, I pulled upwards on the weapon, ripping through flesh and bone, before pulling the weapon out quickly. In pain, and on the verge of consciousness, I watched as the carcass of the alien began to sink, slowly but surely, into it's own grave in the artic snow. With one last sigh of relief, I sighed and closed my eyes, slipping into unconsciousness, my wounds getting the best of me. I was sure that my time was over, and that I was doomed to my own grave out here in the Antarctic- but had I stayed awake a few moments longer- I would have seen a ship reentering the atmosphere- and coming directly towards me.

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**Authors Note:** _Well, there we go. End of Chapter One. Hope you liked it. And just for all you people who are currently wondering how the heck the grid alien survived, this is the realm of fan fiction- Anything can happen, and that's my explanation. Please tell me what you thought about the chapter._

_The next update will probably be at the end of the week, as I do have schoolwork to keep up with too!

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	2. Chapter Two: Refuge Of Thorns

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Authors Note: First of all, to the people who read and reviewed- Thank you all so much! Reviews are really what keeps a writer going, and getting so many for the first chapter is awesome! Here's the next chapter, I hope it keeps you as entertained as the last, maybe even a little more.**

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**Warrior.**

**Chapter Two: **_Refuge of Thorns_

I awoke screaming. The cut on my right side burned painfully, the pain far worse then any I had experienced before. My eyes were glazed over with tears, and I blinked them out of my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of my surroundings. While my eyes adjusted, my other senses had already kicked in. A strong odor hit me were I sat, on a cold metallic something or other. I could feel the metal pressed against the backs of my legs where my pants should have been, and against my back, where my shirt should have been. Immediately I reached to cover myself, and found that I was still clothed, but in something new that I'd have to examine closer the first chance I got.

The smell that hit me was strong, and foul. Flesh and blood and all things awful seemed to mix together in that smell, coming together to curdle in my nostrils and fill me with disgust. But the thing it reminded me the most of, above all- was medicine. The kind they give you in hospitals before and after major surgery, and the way it lingers in your nostrils for the next few days- strong as ever. I was sure I was cringing, the pain and smells both getting to me. I felt like throwing up, but realized quickly that my stomach didn't have anything in it to actually purge.

By now, my eyesight had returned to normal, and I gasped when I looked up. The Predator that had given me the weapon that I'd used to save my life was seated in front of me, looking at me with a strange intent. His mask was removed, and his head was tilted to the side as he examined my reactions. My useable hand immediately traveled to my side, where one of my wounds was, and came away sticky. Quickly, I pulled it back to find that it was covered in a light greenish blue liquid, which had been applied generously to my wound.

A growling noise from the Predator scared me back out of my explorations, and I looked up at him again, just as he reached forward and took my hand by the wrist, holding me tightly. He forced a low, guttural clicking noise from the depths of his throat, warning me. I understood what he meant; there would be no touching. Nervously I searched for something to wipe my hands on, and for the first time since I had awoken, I had time to examine my surroundings. With wide eyes, I was beginning to understand. I was on the ship.

To my left, was a large glass window, spreading from the side of the bed and up to the ceiling, doming outwards. I stared out into space in awe, examining the Earth, large and vast and looking exactly like it had in my eight grade school textbooks- except this time it was in color of course- and much larger. The awesomeness of space seemed overwhelming at first, as I watched the stars twinkling, and Earth slowly moving away as the ship continued on it's course to wherever it was headed.

Forcing myself to look away from the window, my eyes scanned over the insides of the ship. I couldn't really see much, due to the greenish-white curtain that was pulled around the room, giving off the atmosphere of that of a hospital. That was what I was in; I began to realize. It was a hospital. Beside me, on a metal table was a circular metal bowl, etched with symbols I couldn't begin to understand. Inside the dish though, was the same green liquid that was on the wound on my side, a good amount still remaining. When the Great Predator noticed me looking at it, he moved forward, and took the dish into his hand.

With a dagger-like tool, he stirred the liquid around for a moment, and looked up towards me. The sensible side of me told me I should be frightened, but rolling out of the metal table I was sitting on, and trying to find a decent place to hide on a ship that I knew was full of the Predators was not the best idea. Instead, I braced myself by pulling away from him, and biting my lip as he placed the flat side of the dagger against my left shoulder, onto one of the cuts. I cried out again, even though I had tried not to. The numbness in my arm abated immediately, and was replaced by a horrible stinging sensation, burning my wound, but speeding up the healing process at the same time, closing the skin shut again. Obviously the pain had to get worse before it got better.

Murphy's Law.

Once more, the flat side of the knife grazed against another of my cuts. Twice, a third time; but by now I had known what to expect, and didn't have to cry out anymore. My wounds were closing rapidly, and after a few moments it became easier to use my arm, that had before been almost completely devoid of the ability to move. I made myself move it, resting it on my lap and sitting up to face my captors.

"Why am I here?" I asked him, knowing full well that he probably wouldn't understand I word I was saying. I didn't mean to seem ungrateful, as I probably would have died out there in the Antarctic with the wounds that I had, but I didn't like waking up to the shock of being in an actual 'Alien Environment'. My fingers played nervously with my new clothes, which reminded me… _What the hell am I dressed in? _I asked myself in shock, looking down at my outfit.

My torn and bloodied clothing had been replaced; my pants and torn shirt swapped for a fishnet jumpsuit like the ones I had seen the Predator down on Earth wearing. They must have understood the human psyche somewhat, and something about modesty, because armor was placed over the fishnet against my chest, and more around my waist and legs. A belt was fixed tightly to my waist, empty holsters placed in intervals around the right side. I felt oddly warm though, even with my lack of clothes. Tall metal boots sat beside the metal bed I rested on, and I was looking at them with interest when something occurred to me.

I was dressed for battle.

The armor I wore was that of a Predator. The mark on my skin set me apart from humans as a Warrior, and the urge to throw up rolled over me again as I realized what I was being asked to do. They wanted me to fight with them. "Oh no." I said suddenly, swinging my feet over the side of the bed and onto the metal floors. The bottoms of my feet protested by refusing to stand on the metal shoeless, and forced me to sit up on the table while I grabbed the boots beside me, and began to slip them on my feet. "No way am I staying here." I said to the Predator, shaking my head from side to side and jumping back onto my feet.

I stood at least a good two inches higher then I had last time, and was able to stare up at the Great Predator, without feeling so much shorter then him. A few clicks and a low growl from him severely reduced my will to fight back. If I was to defy all of their wishes, they could end my life in more ways then I could imagine, each way more painful then the next. Looking up at the Predator with wrath in my eyes, I folded my arms across my chest and looked at him. "What do you want me to do?" I asked him, speaking to him normally, and hoping that he would understand what I was saying.

He seemed to, for he turned and headed towards the edge of the curtain, the way out. Next to the wall beside the exit, was the weapon I'd received back on Earth. The blades were retracted back inside it once again, and from a distance might have been mistaken as a metal pipe on the wall. I picked it up on my way out, and slid it through one of the holsters in the belt that had been placed around my waist, where it actually fit quite nicely, making for an easy way to store a weapon or item when I didn't need to use it at the time.

I continued on behind the Great Predator, out from behind the curtain, and into the main Hospital Wing of the ship. Curtains divided the room into sections, breaking the room into at least half a dozen different stalls. A series of clicks and growls issued from around the room, and for the first time, it occurred to me that I was in a whole new world; one where others might not be as understanding to me as the Great Predator was.

As we continued down towards the other end of the room, I caught my first glimpse of another Predator since Earth. It emerged from around a curtain, scars from burns trailing all the way from his face, down his chest. The deadlocks on the right side of his face were melted off, the roots sticking out of the side of his head painfully, matted in green blood. I cringed when I saw him, and looked down towards my feet, and the metal grating I walked on. The burns on his face looked like they came from the blood of one of the Serpents, and after all I had learned inside the pyramid, the possibility was quite real.

A series of clicks and snarls issued from both of the Predators before me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder, wrenching me sideways and behind the Great Predator. The two carried on a conversation in their native tongue before me, and I tried not to look between them too often. I could tell the injured Predator was not pleased. His hands moved in wild motions, and crablike face twisted and contorted in anger. I actually feared for my life for a moment, until I was yanked from the room, by a hand around my arm, my protector's, and into the hallways of the ship.

Before I had a chance to examine the hallways, something was thrust into my hands, and I looked down at it in awe. It was a mask; engraved with the same symbols I had seen on the bowl the medicine had been in. So much had changed in the past seventy-two hours of my life, that I couldn't rightly expect- or complain- about anything anymore. So, without comment, I slid the mask onto my face, using the ties on the sides of the mask, to attach it to my armor.

I was officially prepared for battle.

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**Authors Note: **_Well, there we are. Chapter Two. I didn't really like how this one turned out, but the next one will be really good, as I have some big surprises planned… Please let me know how you liked it.

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	3. Chapter Three: Communication Barriers

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Authors Note: _Thanks again for all the reviews guys! I'm really taking them all to heart and plan on applying the constructive criticism in future writing attempts, and if I go through and re-write this when I finally finish. Oh, and _****Scarlet-Moonlight: **To answer your question, I've elaborated in this chapter. Enjoy. 

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**Warrior **

**Chapter Three:** _Communication Barriers_

I had been standing in an empty hallway that branched off in three directions- left, forward, and right- before I had slid the mask onto my face. And when I blinked, and opened my eyes again, I found myself thrust into a new field of vision and a whole new atmosphere. The metal walls and floors changed quickly to dark blue, and the that shone down onto us from the ceiling turned into a light reddish-white color. I was seeing the world through heat sensors. It didn't really occur to me though, until I looked down the hallway straight ahead of me.

It had been completely empty before- that I was sure of. But now as I looked down the hallway, I saw moving figures, a very bright neon green in color, moving towards, and away from me. "What the," I started to say, and looked back towards the Great Predator, to see that he was indeed green in color to me too. He had given me his mask to wear, as another symbol. Maybe, in his mask, the other Predators wouldn't notice that I was human?

That idea however, was quickly disputed after I looked down at my own hands, to see that they were indeed vivid red and orange colors, a reminder of the human blood that still ran through my veins. Seeing it, I was somewhat relieved. I'd been so far from feeling safe, and at home in a place for so long, that I was beginning to believe that I was losing my ties to humanity. Obviously though, becoming a warrior didn't entail changing everything about yourself in the process.

A series of clicks and growls came from the Predator beside me, and I nodded to him, understanding that I was supposed to follow him. He took me to the left, and down a reasonably empty hallway. It was far more difficult following him then I'd first thought it would be though. The blueness of the cold metal walls seemed to run on forever, no twists or turns- they just weren't there. Keeping my eyes locked- the only way I could retain some sense of control and placement in this view- onto the Predator. I couldn't lose him; not in this place. I'd already seen that I wasn't exactly welcomed, so until I figured out why I had been brought here, I knew it would be a potentially fatal mistake to strike out on my own.

I had been staring at the moving green form of the Predator for what seemed like ages, when another stepped out from seemingly to the right of me and further down the hall. With a hand raised in greeting, the Great Predator passed him, and I watched the other predator bow down to him as he walked by, his head bent down in respect, confirming my theory that he was in fact their leader. I stepped around the bowed form of the second predator, and was oddly surprised when he bowed again for me.

I reminded myself of the symbols on the front of the mask. They must have held some sort of status in their culture, and while worn, the bearer must be treated with the highest respect. Of course, the soft growl, which followed me as I turned right, and followed the Great Predator, told me I was most likely wrong in all of my assumptions. _'Who am I to try and understand their way?' _I had to ask myself as I trekked down the hallway after my new protector. This whole thing could be a trap; a plot to get back at me after the Predator who had protected me on Earth had died so close to his honor and glory.

Lost in my thoughts, I slammed against the Predator who was leading me down the hallway, and jumped backwards away from him in fear. "Sorry." I said quickly to him, hoping that he understood me. I raised my hands up in front of my chest, as a sort of 'please don't hurt me' gesture. "I'm sorry." I told him again, and when I felt it was safe, lowered my hands again.

After a series of clicks in my direction, the Great Predator reached for my face and unhooked the mask from my armor.

_Hiss._

I heard whatever it was that the masks fed into turning off, as the connection was broken. With a sigh of relief, I hefted the mask from my face and was wrenched back into my normal eyesight. The stench of Predator breath stuck with me for a long while afterwards though, clinging to my hair and most likely my very skin. The thought disturbed me if I dwelled on it for to long, so I forced myself to think of something else, and settled on observing the room I was standing in.

More metal surrounded me on all sides, but this room was far more advanced then that of the hospital wing. I had to guess that what I was on would serve as 'The Bridge,' in any decent science fiction novel. The middle of the room was sunken, with steps leading down into a small alcove, which on closer inspection held many podiums, on which sat more of the masks the Predators usually donned during the hunts. Lights streamed up through the natural floor, and lead all the way down to the other end of the room, where another of the full wall windows were located, now looking down onto a now much smaller Earth.

I had to guess by the distance, that the ship I was standing on was moving incredibly fast. It had only been a few minutes since we'd been in the Hospital Wing, and Earth hadn't been all that far away then.

It wasn't Earth that I was too concerned with. It was what was placed as a memorial in _front _of the glass that I was focused on. The body of the Predator that I had fought alongside on Earth, the one who had saved my life in the Pyramid, and had marked me as a fellow Warrior, sat on a table in front of the glass. A group of other Predators stood beside him, chatting anxiously and poking and prodding at his lifeless body. One took a knife from it's pocket, and began to lower it to his skin, cutting into it on his chest with a simple slice. An Autopsy.

"No," I cried out suddenly, "stop it!" I found myself running forward, pushing between the Predators' trying to get them to stop. That was when I saw it. All eyes were on me, as I stopped before the body of the Predator, and felt my stomach roll. Besides the cuts on his chest from the knife, was a hole. Green blood had splattered all over his chest, radiating outwards from the wound. I felt extremely sick all of a sudden. How could this have happened?

As my mind raced, I barely registered the series of clicks and growls of mottled speech occurring around me, and then the group of Predators moving away and out of the room, leaving me alone with the Great Predator and the body of my friend. "I'm… Sorry." I heard an odd, strangely metallic voice speak behind me, and I went still. Parts of the voice were familiar- simply because- they were mine.

Clutching my stomach, I turned to face the Predator, whose hand was on his wrist computer. Frowning in confusion, I observed him with my head cocked to the side, trying to discern if the voice had been his own- or simply a broken recording of my own. "I'm Sorry?" The voice said again, raising tone slightly at the end, and I scoffed in disbelief. He was trying to communicate with me now, trying to make me understand. Maybe there was some sort of humanity or compassion hidden underneath their exterior after all…

I turned back to the dead Predator. I still didn't know his name, and doubted I would ever learn it now. "How could this have happened?" I asked myself aloud, shaking my head in disbelief and gazing downwards, into his body through the exit wound the Chestburster had left behind. I was reminded of Miller, and Sebastian, and all the others, what they looked like after the Chestburster had escaped, and the pain they suffered through while it broke it's way through their chest cavity. I still didn't understand.

There was just no way of knowing how long the Predator had been carrying the Serpent inside himself. We hadn't been apart in the pyramid long enough for him to become impregnated after I had returned his weapon. It had to have happened earlier, while we were still on opposing sides. It was kind of ironic- the hunter had ended up becoming a vessel for the one thing it vowed to hunt and destroy.

That was when another thing hit me. His chest had been fine before he had died. "When did this happen?" I asked suddenly, looking up at the Great Predator, seriousness and fear flowing through my blood. "Is this why you brought me here?" I asked him, taking a step away from him. I couldn't have been brought here to _fight? _Could I? "I didn't ask to be Warrior for you." I heard myself saying in defiance. "I didn't want to be in the middle of your war with the Serpents! I didn't want to be the one to survive, when all my other friends died around me!" I shouted to him, not caring anymore if I angered him or not.

My fear had overwhelmed me now. Somewhere, on the ship, an Alien was maturing. _'God only knows how long it will take until the killings start…' _And one thought hit me harder then all the rest- I wasn't ready to fight again.

"Don't you have anyone else?" I asked, frustration taking over me. I could tell by the way the Predator was looking at me; with wide eyes and a head titled to the side, that he didn't understand a word of my tirade. I felt like crying. No one understood me here, and I couldn't understand them, so how the hell was I supposed to help them? In despair, I leaned my back against the window, and slid down in, resting my forehead in my palms as I fought the tears struggling to break from the corners of my eyes.

I probably sat there for a full five minutes, in complete silence as I contemplated my situation. But I was finally broken from my thoughts by a large hand on my shoulder. With just that hand, I was yanked back to my feet and forced to stand. I sniffed and wiped my eyes and glared at the Great Predator, just wanting to be alone now.

"Come with me." I heard his natural voice grate, sounding like metal on metal on stone. I cringed slightly as he spoke to me, but more out of the suddenness of the noise, then the words themselves. He took off without me- his weapons and prize skulls swinging at his waist, and his cloak billowing out behind him.

It wasn't a question.

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**Authors Note: **_Well, here's the third chapter, the final in the installment. JUST KIDDING! I couldn't do that to those of you who might actually like this fic. _

_Plus, I like it too much to stop writing. _

_Depending on how much work I have tomorrow, I might update the next chapter, which should finally be where the story will start to pick up again. Don't worry; I have a very big surprise planned for Lex in the next chapter. Thanks for all your feedback guys/girls.

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	4. Chapter Four: Revelations

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Authors Note:** _Thanks again for all the reviews! I absolutely love coming home each day to find that my newest chapter is actually liked by you guys! Oh, and I thought I'd clear something up for you before actually starting the newest chapter. Incase you didn't know, I am in fact a guy, not a girl. It's my own fault for choosing a girly alias for my account, no harm done._

_Now without further ado, I present to you the newest chapter in Warrior. Enjoy._

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Four: **Revelations

The Great Predator led me through a maze of hallways; left, right, down, left, and down again. There were more twists and turns in this place then I'd ever thought possible. And there were more Predators then I'd previously expected there to be too. I didn't care if they saw me without the mask on anymore. I was past the point of caring. I was pissed off. Sure, in retrospect they had saved my life by taking me aboard their ship; but I also had the distinct impression from them that leaving was not my decision, and I wouldn't be allowed to leave until after I had served my duty and helped them.

I tried to ignore the growls and clicks of the Predators that passed by me as I walked, and told myself not to care what they might have thought about me. My anger fueled me on, into recklessness, and I was debating about doing something pretty foolish, until we finally came to a stop in a place that made me catch my breath, and gaze around in complete awe- amazed, and shocked by what I was seeing. I wasn't aware that I was frowning, my eyebrows creasing towards each other, as I was lost in thought, and all because…

I was standing in a room full of human bodies.

They were stored in Cryogenic freeze tubes. Each had a base made from the same metal that the rest of the ship was formed from, and seemed to change meld into the floor naturally and seamlessly, without the rivets and seams you would have seen from such metal work on Earth. Things here seemed to be made both "Manmade" and Organic in this place. Glass rose up from the metal, up towards the ceiling at a thirty-degree angle, leaving the room with a strange, sideways feel. The people inside the Cryogenic chambers seemed content enough, their heads nodded off to the sides as they slept soundly.

Nervously, I stepped further into the room, to get a closer look. The Great Predator stayed behind me, allowing me my chance to explore. There had to have been a dozen humans, maybe more in the Cryogenic chambers. Not all were filled, but left empty and open, their glass doors swung fully open to the right, beckoning to me to come inside. I stayed away from those, and turned to my right, to look into one of the chambers.

Inside was a female, maybe in her early twenties at the most. Her skin was pale, which could have been natural, but might also have been caused by a sever lack of sunlight. Since she was clad in the same clothing that all the rest of them were- the same that I was dressed in- there was no way of knowing what time she had first fallen asleep, without talking to her for the information. Her blonde hair hung down to her shoulders, both messed and making her look gorgeous at the same time. Braids were scattered about her hair, all the same size, making her look like a human version of a Predator. On her right cheek, she wore the same mark that I did- the mark of the Warrior.

I moved on without another look at her, and on to the next person- a man. His short dark hair reminded me of Sebastian, but his looks were much more rugged. His muscles were very well defined through the clothing he wore, and I could only guess that he must have been a marine, or was a bodyguard, or at the very least; a club bouncer. Either way, he still looked like he could take care of himself.

"Why are these people here?" I asked, placing the fingertips of my right hand against the glass and looking back towards the Great Predator. He cocked his head at me like he didn't understand what I was saying. "Damn it," I replied, taking my hand off the glass and glaring at him. "I know you're smarter then that. You know what I'm saying." I said to him, walking myself up to him, and staring him in the eyes, even through he was a good three feet taller then myself. "You want me to be a warrior so damn badly you're going to have to deal with the attitude that comes along." I added testily, the first time I'd been so sarcastic since killing the alien outside of the Pyramid in the Antarctic.

With a great, heaving breath in, the Predator before me prepared to speak, the same grating voice as before, on the Bridge. "Show you." He rasped, and pulled his left arm towards his face. On his wrist, was the same keypad that the Predators in the Pyramid had worn. He flipped the front up and back, exposing the black panels with the number pad underneath them. Clicking something up with clawed hands, too fast for me to tell- let alone remember- what it was he was keying in. With a few more commands entered in, a sudden hissing noise directly behind me broke the silence.

With a gasp I grabbed for my weapon and pulled it from my belt faster then should have been humanly possible. I clicked the latch, which would activate the actual weapon into working mode as I spun around, fearing for my life- to face absolutely nothing. My eyes searched the room quickly, darting from row to row of the Cryogenic Chambers, trying to find the source of the noise, until a wispy white gas began pouring into the room from the first Chamber, where the white girl with the braids was located in.

The mist dissipated almost immediately after it had appeared, and suddenly the doorway to chamber let out another 'hiss' as it began to swing open slowly to the right. Slowly, the woman inside the chamber began to awaken, her eyelids fluttering open, revealing dark brown eyes that seemed to be an actual portal to her soul. They saw right through me. Her head turned to the side and she looked around the room for a moment, before falling forward. I tossed my weapon to the side on instinct and caught her before she fell.

"Oh, thank you." She spoke slowly, her voice faltering and breaking even through the most simple of sentences. She had only spoken three words, yet I could tell she had an accent. It sounded English. "I'll never… Get used to that." She said softly, raking her hair out of her eyes with her hand and regaining her composure. It was obvious that she'd been here for a long while. "Oh, who're you?" She asked me, looking at me the same way most of the Predator's had; with her head cocked to the side.

"My name is Alexa Woods." I told the girl. "And you?" I asked, leaning down to pick up my weapon and return it back to its slot in my belt.

"My name?" The girl asked, frowning. She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, and I gaped at her. She didn't even remember her own name? I felt sick again. She'd been here for so long… "My name is Lucy Harper." She replied finally, and smiled for just a moment- as if it was some big accomplishment- remembering her own name. I tried my best to smile in her direction, and looked back at the Great Predator, who wasn't there. He had snuck out of the room and left me with this strange young woman, who wasn't even sure who she was. Great. "What year is it?"

"It's 2004." I responded quickly. "Why?"

"Oh my." Lucy said, more so to herself then to me. "So it's been Forty-One years…" She said.

"Forty-one years since what?"

"Since I was last awoken." Lucy said simply, taking a step away from me and around her Cryogenic Chamber. She was walking away from me as she was speaking, down the room, and running her hands along the glass of the other Chambers, where the others still slept soundly. "I've been her since the 1776. I was the first. The first one to have been _blessed_ with 'the mark', after defeating the Serpent that had somehow arrived on our Planet." She said, her voice devoid of emotion. The emphasis she placed on the word 'blessed' disquieted me, and sent chills down my spine as I listened to her rave in madness.

"It had been brought to Earth by the Predators. I hadn't known it then. But after it murdered my family and friends; and the rest who were caught in the crossfire, I had been one of the only ones to survive." She told me, turning left and circling another Cryogenic Chamber and turning back in the direction she had come. Her story was so similar to mine, that it was eerie. Had all of these people been caught in the crossfire of an intergalactic battle? "By the time it was over, only a handful of us had survived, and I had killed the creature by chance- and been wounded.

"They took me with them aboard their ship and healed me." Lucy said, emotion returning to her voice for a moment; it was spite I heard coming from her. "And ever since then, I've been in Cryogenic Hibernation, until they needed me." She finished proudly.

"I thought you said it had been forty-one years…" I stated, and followed her as she made another turn, this time to the right, and back down the room again.

"That was the last time I was awoken," She said, staring across a gap between Cryogenic Chambers to me. "To battle with the Serpent."

"I saw the mark on your cheek." I told her after a moment of awkward silence overlapped between us, as I followed her down the last row. "I've got the mark too. It's the mark of the Warrior, right?" I asked her. "We're all Warriors here."

Suddenly Lucy broke into a fit of laughter and giggles as she rounded a turn and made her way back in my direction. I stopped looking after her, figuring that she would be all right by herself, and took to trying to occupy myself with looking at the sleeping figures, instead of on how creepy the girl was.

"You think you're marked as a Warrior?" She asked me suddenly, from somewhere to my right. "That mark is meant for a Yautja, not for a human." Lucy laughed again, this time from somewhere behind me. I spun quickly, looking for her, somewhat frightened of her now. I had no clue what she was talking about anymore, but paid attention anyway. "The mark has a different meaning on a human. You're not a Warrior. None of us are." She said simply, and for a time, everything was silent.

Things were silent for so long, that I began to wonder if she had left the room without me knowing; until she appeared behind me again, quickly, but soundlessly. Her voice, emotionless again, caused me to jump and turn to look into her equally emotionless eyes.

"We are slaves." She explained. "And it's our time of servitude again."

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**Authors Note: **_Finis! I told you this chapter had some big surprises in it! I'm really glad to finally get another human character in her, so that there can be some actually conversations now and not just a bunch of descriptions thrown in every so often. I hope you guys liked it. _

_And I'm sorry to all of you who wanted to see Scar return, I just didn't feel right in bringing him back, because it would kind of ruin the person Lex had become. Sorry.

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	5. Chapter Five: The First

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Authors Note: _Okay, here's the newest chapter for all of you readers! Wow, I'm really putting these chapters out pretty fast… I hope it's not affecting the quality of the story at all. The action should begin to pick up in the next few chapters, unless my muses decide to take me on a detour- but so far, no plans for that as of yet. _**

_Enjoy!

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Five: **_The First._

What I was hearing stopped me in my tracks. I stopped breathing, as my mind kicked into high gear, trying to sort out what Lucy had told me. I didn't understand. Why did the Predator with the mark on Earth give me the mark, knowing full well that I would be considered a slave to his people for the rest of my life? It made sense though, that the Great Predator hadn't used the medicine to heal my own scar though. I was bound to them now. "Wait, wait," I started, holding up a hand to stop the girl from moving or speaking, so I could get my head around what I had been told. "I'm a slave? Why?" I asked, my forehead still creased with concentration. "What the hell are you saying?"

Lucy had turned from me again, and began walking back away from me, running her hand along a row of Cryogenic Chambers as she spoke. "The Yautja only take us out of Hibernation when a situation has gotten out of their control." She began to explain. "It has been the same way since I was first taken. They planted the Xenomorphs on Earth over and over again, to root out the warriors- those who could control themselves under pressure, and defeat the creatures in battle. Then, when situations got tough for them, they took up kidnapping, like they had with me- and took their marked 'Warriors' with them onto the ship, placing them in the Cryogenic Chambers until they were next needed." Lucy said naturally, like she had probably told everyone who came before me.

I was just a pawn. If what Lucy had said was true, then Scar- The Predator on Earth had only marked me for his clan, if something unfortunate was to happen to him. To think that I had trusted him so much! I thought that he had protected me because I earned his honor. But everything about that had changed with the new knowledge I'd gained. I had no idea what Lucy was talking about when she mentioned 'Xenomorphs' and 'Yautja' but with a few well placed guesses, I was able to figure she was talking about the Predators and the Aliens.

"So," Lucy said, turning around to face me again. "Where's the Xenomorph?" Her eyes shone with ferocity, and I could tell that she longed for battle again. For someone who seemed to hate being used as a slave, she also seemed to long for battle again. I hadn't noticed it before, but she did look very strong for having been asleep for over forty years. She could probably hold her own during a battle.

"That's the thing." I responded, biting my bottom lip for a moment as I tried to think of the right way to phrase it. "We don't exactly know." That was when I took her to the body of the Predator, to show her what I meant. As I relayed the story of my journey to her, I watched her become more and more concerned. She paced back and forth before me as I leaned against the glass window in front of the body- telling her about how the Predator and I had fought the Queen together, only for him to be murdered, and then taken aboard the ship by his clan. I told her about my own battle with the Alien, and showed her the tiny scars that still remained on my arm from when the Alien had dug his claws into me.

I could tell by the way that Lucy was staring down at the body before her, that something was not right. She'd seen something that frightened her; or at the very least, had unnerved her. "What's wrong?" I asked her suddenly, stepping away from the glass and towards the table again. I placed my hands on the edge, and looked across at her, trying to discern what she was thinking before she actually told me.

"As long as I've been here," She said, "serving the Yautja, I have never seen one die like this." She told me, looking up at me, and down to the hole in the body. Her hand moved forward and touched the wound carefully, pulling on the skin where the now dried blood remained. I winced as she pulled at the opening, trying to see if the wound was in face caused by one of those… Chestbursters. "The Xenomorph is meant to use the human body as a host. That is how it has always been." She explained, retracting her hand and wiping the tiny flakes of blood off on the table, which began to glow a soft green where her fingers had been.

"Then how was the Xenomorph created?" I asked her, and then decided to broaden the scope of my question. "How was the Predator- The Yautja? Created?" I asked her, trying my best to use her terms for the creatures. This girl, however insane she may be, was my only link to understanding the Predators and where they were coming from. I planned on using that link to the fullest extent. Besides, in a world where no one understood me; it was kind of nice having someone to talk to, no matter if all they did was ramble.

"The Xenomorph is a parasite." She told me. "I don't know when, or where it came from; but it grew and thrived on the human host it resided in, developing over time, into the first Chestburster- and eventually into an almost unstoppable killing machine." She explained, sighing and looking around out past me, and into space. Earth was out of view now, and only stars could be seen, blinking at us from the deep black that was space. "It evolved over time along with the Yautja, whom I have no knowledge of. They don't speak of themselves very often." She said, nodding to herself and swallowing audibly before turning and walking down the stretch towards the other end of the room.

Something in her sentence made me do a double take. "Wait, wait a second!" I called after her, and followed her again. "Are you telling me that you can understand them?" I asked in disbelief.

Lucy chuckled, and rolled her eyes at me; as if I telling me that I should have known better. "When you are kept here for another hundred years, try and tell me that their language isn't beginning to make a little bit of sense to you." She said sarcastically, and turned to exit the room. The few Predators around us paid us no mind as we exited. Maybe they were becoming more accustomed to our presence on the ship? Or maybe there were just beginning to realize the severity of the situation they were placed in.

For the next few hours, I spent my time getting to know the ship I was in. Lucy led me to the rooms that had been designated for the humans when they were awake. We had our own wing, with at least two dozen empty rooms scattered about it. Some rooms were stacked with what looked suspiciously like military bunk beds, while some were double, or singles. I chose a single, in the 'B' Ward, as Lucy called it. I doubted that that was the actual name for it, but I didn't want to argue with the only other conscious human on the ship.

Instead, I went with it, and entered my new bedroom. I didn't have anything inside it beside a bed, and a small table on which I could put my weapon during the night. On the right side of the room, was a doorway. When I walked towards it, it slid open automatically and granted me entrance. On further exploration, I discovered that I was inside a bathroom of sorts. In the corner was a shower stall- with a hanging curtain made of fishnet and what seemed to be leaves. But when I tried to break them, they held firm. There was a very clean, metallic toilet in the corner, for when I needed to use the bathroom.

In my new quarters, I took the time to finally pamper myself again. The thing I really needed was a shower. So, stripping down out of all of my clothes, I headed into the bathroom, grabbing a towel out of a small closet on the opposite side of the bedroom. The water in the shower was just perfect. The consistency was different then that on earth; slightly heavier, and seemed to cleanse and promote growth. As I stood under the jet of water, and shampooed my hair, I couldn't help but think of how normal things were feeling at the moment.

It didn't last long.

_Crash. _

I could hear something, moving, even over the powerful jet of water falling on me. My heart started pounding against my chest, and I slowly reached forward to turn the water off. Something was inside my bedroom. Once the water had slowed to a dribble, and finally stopped completely, I moved closer to the shower curtain, to listen more carefully. My eyes tried to see through the green of the leaves, looking for some sort of peephole to check if the room was safe or not, but I couldn't see anything at all. I waited again. Three seconds, five seconds.

Finally, deciding it was safe, I slowly reached out, past the shower curtain to grab my towel and throw it around myself, not even bothering to dry my hair. I tied the towel around me tightly, and suddenly realized something. I was trapped. "Damn it." I hissed silently, as I thought about placing my weapon on the table beside my bed as I undressed. Here I was, almost completely naked and defenseless at the same time.

I wrenched the shower curtain open and stared about the bathroom, which was empty. I sighed in relief when I looked upon the closed door. I had forgotten that I'd closed it before getting into the shower. With the utmost care, I tiptoed over to the door, and pressed my ear against it, trying to listen for something; anything at all.

I could hear footsteps.

Sighing in relief, I realized that Lucy must have come into my bedroom to see how I was settling in. "Lucy," I started, my heart rate slowly returning to normal. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open quickly, expecting to see the blonde girl standing in my bedroom. "What are you doing in my-" I had begun to say, until I looked up and saw that it was not Lucy after all- but the Predator with the burnt skin I'd seen hours ago in the Hospital Wing. I screamed out of shock.

The Predator spun to face me, growling in anger. He was standing beside my bed, my weapon in his hands. His green-scaled fingers clutched the staff in his hands, clenching tightly against the metal, out of anger. The look in his eyes scared me beyond belief. He looked as crazy as Lucy sounded. His eyes looked at me, but were devoid at the same time. He snarled and pressed the release on the weapon, the blades sliding out of each end.

That was when I realized it. He was here to kill me. Of all the other Predators, he had been the one to be the angriest about my arrival. I backed away, into the bathroom, and tried to close the door behind me, only to watch the spear be impaled through the metal, and narrowly missing my stomach. I screamed loudly, and backed away, against the wall as the door was wrenched open before my eyes. _'Here it comes.'_ I told myself, shutting my eyes tightly and waiting for the barbs of the spear to be impaled into my waist, or throat.

But the end didn't come.

Instead, I heard him grunt loudly, and I dared to open my eyes, one at a time. The Predator was holding a hand against his chest, and looking down at himself with confused eyes. He grunted again, and I heard it for the first time. Cracking noises. I knew what was happening to him. It was the same thing that had happened to Miller, and Sebastian, and most of the others- except this time, I was watching it.

He suddenly roared loudly, in pain. The noise filled the room ten times over, echoing off of all the walls and grounding itself into my ears. He dropped the weapon and struggled to try to hold his chest together, but by that time, it was too late. I grabbed my weapon off of the floor and watched helplessly as the Predator's green blood began to slip from between his fingertips and down his chest- first slowly, and then picking up speed.

With another sudden cracking noise, the Predator dropped his hands and I ducked as the Chestburster did what it was named for- burst from his chest. His muscle, skin and bone peppered the wall around me, and I'm sure some bits landed on me too, but I was more concerned about the creature I was left with.

It screeched loudly, and I got my first good look at it. It was very small, just like the one that had been using Sebastian as a host was. But its face was very different. It had the same jaws as the Yautja, and teeth as a Xenomorph. It was a half-breed.

Desperately, I tried to stab at it with my weapon, and missed as it scuttled around the room. I made another attempt and missed it narrowly as it fled into my bedroom, and finally- out the half open doorway to my room. I collapsed in fear, slamming my bedroom door shut as I fell onto my bed. Another Alien had been harvested inside a Predator, and that was when it hit me. And I finally realized that-

The Xenomorph that had come from the first Predator- Was a Queen. And she had grown quickly.

Clutching my towel around me, I ran into the bathroom and managed to throw up food I hadn't eaten.

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**Authors Note: **_There we have it. I know this chapter was longer, and I'm slightly upset and tired today so I hope it made sense and that you guys liked it. Please, let me know what you guys think. CC is great too; I defiantly think I need it. _

_Also, I've had a death in the family, and I have a wake to go to this weekend. I'll try to update tomorrow, but if I don't then I might try again on Sunday. The latest will be Monday. Sorry guys; I love you all to death, thanks for all your reviews on this fic.

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	6. Chapter Six: Traitor

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Authors Note:** _Thank you guys so much for all the reviews on that last chapter. I honestly hadn't been in the best of places when writing it, and by the time I finished it; I wasn't sure if any of you would actually like it. It really made me feel a lot better to be getting such utterly kind reviews in my email inbox, and I didn't have to worry that I'd ruined the story for you guys. _

_I just have a few things to say, before I start up this next chapter: _

_**Experiment 631: **I'm sorry that I kind of screwed up the Predator's ways. I'm in no way the authority on the Yautja, (I happen to like the Alien Movies more myself,) and this fic is basically just a 'what if' fic. Sorry again. _

_Anyway: On with the Chapter!

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**Warrior **

**Chapter Six: **_Traitor._

Lucy found me first, moments later. She told me of how she heard my screams; and the Yautja's dying call. She had had to fend off the other Predators, who tried to come and see what had happened- what I had done now. I forced myself away from the toilet bowl and clicked the 'release' button on the side before I turned away and stepped over the body of the Predator, and back into my bedroom. I still held my towel tightly around me. So tight in fact; that my knuckles had turned white. I sat on the edge of my bed, and grabbed my clothing and held it over me while Lucy stood on the threshold of the doorway to the bathroom.

She was gazing inside the room for a few moments, silently staring at the second dead body in one day. The predator had fallen almost completely face first, and was splayed out on the floor, a pool of blood expanding about him. I was about to ask Lucy what we should do, when she suddenly stepped inside the bathroom and closed the door behind her. I took the time alone to finally dress, realizing that the day was probably going to get a whole lot busier anytime now.

Just as I was finishing slipping the fishnet sleeves down my arms, was when Lucy re-emerged. I looked past her first, towards the body of the Predator. He was now lying on his back, his eyes open and glazed over- his face a grimace of pain. The hole in his chest was pooled with green blood and I couldn't help but think about how long he had been bleeding for. His belt with his weapons was gone from his waist, and I looked up at Lucy, who had it tied around her own waist.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, as she fiddled with a knife and tried to get it into a pocket of its own. It wasn't working very well for her.

"It's free game now." She explained, and finally gave up, sighing with dismay. She took the knife by the bladed edge and handed it over to me. "Here, you can have this." She told me. "I can't get it back in its pocket." She said, motioning for me to take it. I reached out and took the knife slowly, knowing that I'd probably regret it later. I had just slid the knife into one of the empty pockets when the door to my bedroom came swinging open again, and the Great Predator entered.

Behind him I could see a gathering mass of the Predators, each standing in complete silence as they watched the scene unfold before them. _'Well there goes my escape route.' _I thought to myself, and crossed my arms over my chest as the Great Predator stared from me, to Lucy, and to the body of the Predator. Immediately, he began to growl, and speak in his native tongue, trying to figure out what had happened in here.

Lucy took charge then. She stepped forward and began to speak to him- with their own language. I was utterly amazed with her. She had conformed to the Predators' way of living, and knew their laws, and even their language. Granted, her series of clicks and speech did sound slightly differed from the real Yautja, but I got the distinct feeling that every, single one of them understood what she was saying to them. Suddenly, she turned to me, and spoke in English. "He attacked you, did he not?" She asked me, to which the Great Predator turned to look at me also.

"No- I mean yes." I corrected myself, remembering how frightened I had been when I tried to escape back into the bathroom. And how I thought I was doomed as the door was kicked in and he came for me with my own weapon. "He attacked me with my Weapon." I said, pointing into the bathroom where my staff still lay, half inside the shower stall, half out. Lucy translated my words into their speech, and for a moment, all was silent, until I spoke up again.

"The Xenomorph escaped, into the hallway." I said suddenly, looking towards the door. "I couldn't kill it in time." Lucy nodded to me and translated again, and suddenly there was movement again. The Great Predator issued the first four Yautja into the room, and they walked together towards the dead body, preparing to take him somewhere, just like they had with Scar. "Wait!" I cried out, not finished yet. "I'm not done. There's something you need to know."

Lucy held up a hand to the Yautja, who had now loaded the dead body onto a stretcher and were preparing to pick the body up. They stopped in their tracks and I made to tell them my story.

I explained how something was different about the Chestburster, then the ones I'd seen on Earth. I told her about their mandibles, and how they looked like a variable crossbreed between a Predator and a Yautja. Lucy became a good deal paler as she translated for me, and I could tell that my news was disturbing to her. The Predators outside the room were no longer silent, and the series of growls and clicks coming from outside the door began to become overwhelming.

They didn't believe me! I could tell by the way they pointed, and snarled in my direction. They thought that I had murdered the Predator who now lay dead before us. Lucy tried to calm them, her words becoming more urgent, until the Great Predator finally turned to me again. He stared at me for a long while, trying to discern the truth from my eyes. I could tell just by looking at him that he was deep in thought- trying to figure out a way to restore peace on his ship.

Finally, he motion to the four Yautja who were already standing in my room, and when they collected the body of the Predator, and had walked from the room, the Great Predator followed them without another look at me. "What's going on?" I asked Lucy as the door to the bedroom slid closed again and a hissing noise filled the room for a moment before cutting off suddenly. "Lucy?" I asked, spinning around to face the girl, who was staring at the blood on the bathroom floor, lost in thought.

I placed my hand on her shoulder, and spun her to face me; sick of waiting for her answers. "They don't believe you," She said to me simply. "If you must know." She added arrogantly. "A human's word is nothing to the Yautja; only the Arbitrators." She explained, using another word she knew I wouldn't understand.

"Wait, the what?" I asked her before she could continue on. I was beginning to become overwhelmed. Just thinking about it, a little over a dozen hours ago, I had been so close to leaving all of this danger behind me. All I could think about then was my father's last moments on the top of Mt. Rainer. I thought then that I'd go insane if I had to witness another needless death while on the expedition. _'It's amazing how a mind adapts, huh Lex?' _I asked myself, as Lucy started speaking to me again.

"Arbitrators," she said. "They're the 'police' of the Yautja. They control and uphold the laws and they have the final say on everything that goes on in each Clan. They no longer hunt as they have so many rewards, that they eventually tire of the Hunt, and stay on the ship for the most part. There is only the one Arbitrator in this Clan." She said, and then frowned immediately afterwards. "At least- I think there's only the one. I have been asleep for half a century so please, excuse me if I'm wrong." She said sarcastically, and moved to the doorway.

Stepping in front of it, I had expected it to open and allow her to leave, but instead, it stayed rooted firmly in place. Lucy waved her hand in front of it, trying to get the senors to activate, and the door to open, but nothing seemed to be working. "Just like I thought." She said, collapsing against the doorway and sliding down it to sit on the floor. "We're locked in." She gave me the bad news, and I sat down on my bed, frowning.

"For how long?"

"Until they need us again."

Neither of us said another word that night. The Predators didn't come back to get us again, and I found myself drifting off to sleep where I sat on my bed. I had had a very long, and tedious day, and no matter how hard I tried, I found myself drifting off to sleep with one last glance at Lucy, who was still awake where she sat, and another glance towards the bathroom, where the door was jammed up near the ceiling because of the broken metal from where the staff had pierced through, and the still glowing green blood pooled on the floor and splattered against the walls.

I tossed and turned through my sleep, dreaming about a temple, drinking champagne with Sebastian and my father and Scar. My champagne was blood, green, red and yellow- the blood of all the people I had on my hands. No one seemed to notice how distraught I was over it though. I spilt the drink, trying to get away from it, and watched as it burned a hole through reality- a black hole in space and time. I watched as my father, Sebastian, and Scar were sucked through, along with everything else I cared about. And suddenly- there was nothing. Only blackness. I was alone; and at the same time, I felt like I wasn't. Something darker then the shadows that surrounded me was watching; watching, and waiting.

It was the second time in a row I'd woken up screaming.

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**Authors Note: **_Sorry for the lame update guys. My muses decided to abandon me halfway through writing this chapter, so I broke out my AVP DVD and watched the movie again, and my muses came back. So, I ended up deleting a whole page and making it a little bit better without having to re-work the whole chapter. But, I did like how the dream sequence came out… Tell me what you guys thought._

_Also, I'm going to try to get another chapter written up today so I can post it when I get home from the wake tomorrow. I have the funeral to go to on Monday though, so there's no telling if I'll have the time to do up another one for Monday. Thanks for all your patience with me._

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	7. Chapter Seven: Trouble in the Vents

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Authors Note:** _Hey guys like always thanks for all the reviews! Without you guys I don't know where I'd be. I certainly wouldn't be continuing this story and I probably would have ended it around Chapter Three. I believe that this the farthest I've ever gone with one fan fiction, and I really do owe it to your support, so thank you all so much. Please, enjoy the chapter; this is the 'promised one' I've been talking about- the one where the action begins to pick up again._

_Also- **yelouge: **I'm just going to defend myself a little by saying that I doubt Lex knew everything about Aliens from her experience in the temple. She knew there was a queen, but she had no idea if there were others that could breed, or if the others grew into Queens. I'll fix the first chapter in a re-rewrite once I've gotten the whole story done. Thanks for your input._

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Seven: **_Trouble in the Vents._

I was shook awake by Lucy, sometime in the middle of the night. I awoke immediately, with her hand over my mouth. Groggy and disoriented, the first thing that came to mind was fighting for survival. Her hand was suffocating me, having been placed over my mouth and nose, severely depleting my ability to breath. I kicked frantically, and tried to scream, although muffled. I couldn't get to my weapon, as I was laying on half of it. With one final burst of energy I managed to knock Lucy away just long enough to be able to pull my weapon out of its holster and release the blades, keeping my attacker away from me. "What the hell are you doing?" I cried out, taking in a deep breath.

"What am I doing?" Lucy asked, clutching her stomach where I'd knocked her back. "You attacked me!" She shouted at me, and then looked around the room as if rethinking her decision to be so loud. I could tell that she was frightened, (or at least conscious,) of something, by the way that her eyes darted around the room, from the ceiling to the walls, and the door. "Be quiet." She told me suddenly, stepping towards the door. When I made to speak again, she held up a hand to silence me. "There's something going on outside." She told me, pressing her ear against the door, trying to listen for something.

"What did you hear?" I asked her after a few moments had passed. Nothing had happened so far while I had been awake, and I was beginning to wonder if this was just another of Lucy's crazed ramblings. Maybe she had fallen asleep, and dreamed of the fight we both knew would be coming. And when she finally awoke, she had accidentally mixed fantasy with reality. Either way, I was beginning to doubt that she'd really heard anything at all.

"I don't know for sure." She replied, and gave up trying to hear anything else at all through the doorway. "But it sounded bad. We have to find a way to get out of this room, now." Lucy said, staring at me. I could tell she was serious, utterly and completely. She began to search the room, looking for something, and immediately moved past me when she finally found it.

Pressing the button on my weapon, the blades retracted back to safe mode, just as Lucy stepped up onto the bed beside me, reaching upwards to a vent at the top of the wall, pressed against the ceiling. The vent was the last place I wanted to go at the moment, and I was tempted to send Lucy to come back for me whenever she managed to find her way back into the hallway to unlock the door for me. Until, she asked for my help boosting her up. I couldn't very well have her go before me, thinking that I was there to back her up when I had stayed behind. '_Damn Morals.' _I thought angrily, as I heaved myself upwards and into the vent behind her.

Inside the vent, there was absolutely no light, or heat. Darkness surrounded me as I followed close behind Lucy's feet, trying to keep her within my line of sight, and not be kicked at the same time. I was reminded of how eerily similar these moments in the vent were to my dream; where I had been encased in darkness on all sides, but still felt like something was watching me. I half expected something to be there- waiting around the next bend to rip Lucy away from me- and leave me stranded in the darkness. I doubted that I'd be able to maneuver my weapon around to save my self in a situation like this, without seriously harming myself in the process anyway.

I couldn't hear the Predators below us, (wherever we were now,) but I could hear fans. Somewhere in the vents, I could hear fans powering up and spinning for a few minutes at a time, until stopping suddenly and surrounding us in silence again. "What the hell are wrong with those fans?" I groaned out to Lucy as we scuttled along the vents towards our destiny. I would rather hear some noise, then nothing at all, and every time they ceased to work, I could feel the tension mounting. I half expected another noise to take its place entirely, as we were found by something more horrible then our captors.

"How would I know, exactly?" She asked me sarcastically, as she rounded a corner and her feet slid out of view to the right. I followed quickly, and found myself bumping against her feet directly around the corner. Something had stopped her in her tracks, and she refused to go any further ahead until she was sure it was safe. The noise of the fans was much louder here, and I was sure that they were right head of us down the vents; I just couldn't see them over Lucy's body in the way. "Back up." She told me suddenly, and immediately began kicking at me with her feet, trying to move backwards.

We did a tango of movement. I moved back into the way we had come, while Lucy continued moving backwards; down an opposite way by herself. When I was about to ask her where she was going alone, she interrupted and nodded to me, telling me to check out what she had just seen. As I crawled forward, and down the ventilation shaft to the right, I could feel cold air being blown onto my face from the fans, which were directly ahead of me. A very dim light came from behind it, issuing from some unseen force, and for a few moments, nothing seemed wrong with the situation.

It wasn't until the fans had shut down again, and I was only ten feet before them that I realized something was horribly wrong. My left hand settled down into something slimy. I pulled it away quickly, as if it had been scalded and stared at the clear saliva that was stuck to it, trailing from my hand to the floor. I tried to snake around the small puddle, to get a closer look beyond while the fans were stopped- and moved forward again.

It became harder and harder to avoid whatever it was that I'd placed my hand in, because the further I moved, the more I could feel, coating the floors, and eventually the walls also. I was reminded eerily of the moments in the Pyramid, when I had found the bodies of Miller, and Verheiden, and eventually shot and killed Sebastian to save him from a much more painful death. The rooms there had been coated with a very similar fluid, which had solidified and molded to the walls. I was sure it was only a matter of time before it happened again here too.

I was almost at the fans now, and I figured I still had a good couple of minutes left before I had to move again, to get back away from them. My eyes struggled to find the source of the problem, the reason why the fans weren't working correctly, and I found it in the bottom right corner. A piece of flesh, colored a yellowish-green was lodged in the corner, and the blade of the fan had been caught in it. _'Hah.' _My mind laughed. _'Serves those bastards right.' _I couldn't help but think as I gazed at the mangled flesh.

But my attention was caught once again- by what existed beyond the fan. I could hear something; something breathing, slow and steadily. A growl broke the repetitious noise, very similar to the noises the Predators made. I inched myself closer, and struggled to look downwards, where the light was coming from, and I found that if I placed myself closer to the blades, I could peer down the shaft.

"Lex, what is it?" Lucy asked suddenly, and I gasped, jumping and turning to glance back at her from an empty space between my arm and chest. She was a good deal further behind me, waiting for me to return. I found myself slightly annoyed with her; so instead of verbally answering, I held up and hand and waved it, palm out, signaling for her to stay quiet.

Trying again, I edged closer, and peered downwards. In the semi-darkness below I could see something. I could tell that the vents opened into the room below, and that the screen had been broken inwards, from the pieces of metal pointed upwards. Through the hole, and father downwards into the darkness, I could see it. A huge mass of yellow, green, and black skin, heaving with each breath it took. I could only see it's back- but I could tell it was humongous. If only I could get a closer-

I screamed loudly as the fans kicked back in, almost slicing off my face at the same time. The piece of flesh which had so long, held out, had split in two and the half on the other side had fallen back down the shaft. The fan was working properly again. I gasped as I slid backwards, realizing just how close I had come to losing my life, when I heard the screech. It was defiantly a Xenomorph; maybe more then one. The noise shook me and I began backing upwards down the shaft, as quickly as I could. I could hear them climbing the walls now. The metal scraping as they fought their way to the ventilation shaft.

"Lex, what is it?" Lucy was asking me, from behind me, and she started to follow me up the shaft.

I continued moving as I screamed down at her. "Don't stop, go down the other shaft! Now!" I shouted at her, urgency in my voice. "Don't stop until you find away out!" I cried out, in fear, glancing backwards and forwards to the fans. I could hear another one screeching. It was getting closer. The way the metal from the shaft was creaking I just knew that it was climbing upwards. Struggling to fit itself through the hole and up to fans, until I could see it.

The blades were slicing the air so quickly, that I could only see it's coloring- dark and foul. It hissed at me from across the shaft, but didn't dare to try and get through the fans without serious injury to itself.

I have no idea how I got out of there. The fear and panic of the moment bubbled to the surface as I only fought to find a way out of the shaft. For a time, I was traveling backwards, my feet hitting the walls as I went. At some point I managed to turn around, using another shaft to back into. Lucy was somewhere ahead of me, calling out to me every few seconds, letting me know what direction she was going. _Left, Right, Left again. _The directions meshed together as we struggled to pull as far away from the danger as we could; our flight response in full 'go' mode.

Eventually though, I came to a part of the vent that Lucy had kicked in, and most likely jumped down through. With no other thought then to follow her, I backed my legs into the tunnel and dropped down, crashing down on the floor below, my legs splaying painfully out below me. Before I could get up myself, I felt strong pairs of hands on my arms, lifting me upwards- and I found myself facing across the hallway I was in, Lucy was looking back at me, a Yautja's hands grasped tightly around each of our own arms.

I didn't need to understand their language, as they growled and clicked to each other anxiously, that we were in serious trouble.

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**Authors Note: **_I'm much prouder of this chapter then the last two. I finally got to write something a little bit more fun then just conversation. I have so much planned for this story again, and my Muses have returned again in full force. Let me know how you like it!_

_By the way: I am dedicating this chapter to both **Solain Rhyo **and **Scarlet-Moonlight**. Two of my reviewers who have been here to let me know exactly what they think about my fic the whole way along. You guys definitly deserve recognition as two outstanding and friendly members of FFNet. Thanks to both, (and all the rest,) of you._

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	8. Chapter Eight: Revolt

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Authors Note:** _I feel so bad! I cannot believe I forgot **Madame Hardy**! She is also another one of my reviewers who has been there to say great things about my fic since the beginning. Therefore, I'm dedicating this chapter solely to you because I forgot you in the last one, and felt horrible about it once I realized it._ _I feel so bad! I cannot believe I forgot She is also another one of my reviewers who has been there to say great things about my fic since the beginning. Therefore, I'm dedicating this chapter solely to you because I forgot you in the last one, and felt horrible about it once I realized it._

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Eight:** _Revolt_

The hands that hoisted me upwards, squeezed my shoulders roughly as I was held in place, staring across the hallway at Lucy, who looked just as startled as I felt; dust and dirt covering the skin on her stomach and chest. Most of the braids that had been in her hair had come undone now, leaving her with a frazzled and a 'just got out of bed' look. She stood facing me, with her arms crossed about her. I could see her fingertips, gripping around her weapon belt she'd stolen from the burned Predator. Her face was stone set, and I could tell that she was ready to fight for her weapons if need be.

She was not going to be left alone in this place without a weapon. And as I watched her, I realized how much I admired her. She deserved the title of Warrior, for being able to face her fears so whole-heartedly. I knew that if she chose to fight, I would fight alongside her; simply because of the fact that she was at the moment the only other human on the trip with me. But for the moment, neither of us tried to fight to escape. I allowed myself to be pushed away from the wall by two green-scaled hands, and led down the hallway- towards who knows where.

It was almost impossible to know where we were or where we were being taken at all. All the hallways here looked nearly identical with their metal walls and floors, and uniformed lighting all the way down each corridor. Had I not been being led, I probably would have been lost within the ship. So it was then that I made a mental note to begin to memorize the corridors of the ship as we walked, in case I ever needed to know how to get somewhere quickly.

The first hallway I was being led down was an easy one to remember, because of the blinking light halfway down the corridor. It cast an eerie and ominous glow down on me as I traveled under it, and for the brief few seconds that I was covered in shadow, I dared to look down on the Predator's hand below me, which looked a grayish green color in the lack of lighting. On the knuckle of each finger, were rings of bone. The bone had been sharpened into formidable looking points, which could probably cause major damage if used to punch something during a battle.

Light suddenly splashed down on me again and I stared forward again, only mildly aware at how much of an automaton I'd become; my legs moving me forward without even a thought from me. My sensory perceptions had lowered themselves as I struggled to keep my cool, in order to memorize my way around the ship. Three metal pipes, twisting themselves down the middle of each wall, connected the second and third hallways. _'Easy enough to remember.' _I told myself as we continued on- this time turning down a new corridor. I gasped in wonderment as we approached.

Of all the corridors to remember; this one had been the easiest. Human blood was spattered against the floors, and the bottoms of the walls. With only a roaring noise from the Predator holding me, I was thrown sideways and against a wall. The Yautja pushed passed me forcefully, and turned to face me only once. He was one of the few on the ship I'd seen still wearing his mask. The right side of the mask was dented and scratched, obviously from battles he'd been in over his lifetime. He wore his trophies around his waist along with his weapons, and could have honestly been one of the most dangerous looking of all of the ones I'd seen thus far.

With another growl, the Yautja turned back to me, and raised a fist in warning. He extended his index finger at me, and his voice trilled deeply in my direction. I knew he was telling me not to move. Lucy was forced down beside me, looking slightly worse for the wear. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust at the Warriors, who I had thought she respected beforehand. "Are you okay?" She asked me, gazing past me and down to the hallway where the floors were coated with blood. Without waiting for a response on my part, she continued onwards, into another of her tirades. "They've never acted like this before. I used to be respected among them!

"Now they are acting like there isn't even a problem!" She hissed at me, and we both watched as the four Predators, which had taken us captive again, headed through a doorway to the right side of the hallway. "I had overheard them talking on the way down here. Most of them refuse to believe that there is a problem on the ship." She was explaining to me.

"What?" I asked suddenly, completely flabbergasted and staring at her. "They saw the body of the Yautja in my room!" I heard myself saying angrily. Funny, my voice seemed to be taking not being believed personally enough. "And they saw the body of Scar- That Predator that had helped me from the Pyramid…" I corrected myself, not feeling right in sharing the nickname I'd given him to Lucy.

Lucy shook her head at me. "It doesn't work that way here." She told me, and stood up, brushing her clothing and armor off as she moved. "Things are based on castes and honor up here. 'Scar' as you called him, was only a child, a young blood, in the Predator's society. He was weak, and too young to know not to take his mask off unless he could help it in such situations. Therefore, he was banished from their minds, even in death." She explained to me, speaking to me as if I was a child who should have known it all along. "Besides, they think you killed the other Yautja." She added, and trundled off towards the doorway the Yautja had gone through.

I was speechless. How could they just deny what they had seen? It could very well cost them everything.

"Oh my God!" Lucy gasped. "What are you doing to them?" Lucy suddenly shouted from the doorway to the room, effectively pulling me out of my thoughts. I whipped my head to the side, to watch the blonde girl gasp in shock, and with a quick tug at her weapons belt- brandished her own weapon- a discus with long and sharp metal edges, very much like the one Scar had used on the cliffs in the battle against the queen. Without a glance at me, she quickly ran inside the room and out of my view.

I could hear the unmistakable sounds of battle inside the room, and I forced myself from the ground against the wall, and into battle. I grasped my weapon the Great Predator had given me, and flicked the blades out into fight mode, and ran towards the doorway. There was far more blood on the floor then I'd guessed there was before, and I found myself running through pools of it. I was almost upon the door now- and just as I began to turn, to run inside- I felt my footing give way.

I felt my right ankle give way and twist at an angle it probably shouldn't have gone without the rest of my body. My left leg, without the support of the right, gave away along with its counterpart and I felt myself falling. The ground rose up to meet me. I slammed against it and chest first into the bloody floors. The first emotion I had to fight to overcome was that of to vomit. The next I had to fight past, was the urge to cry out from the throbbing pain my ankle was putting me through. I bit my lip and made to stand again, placing my hands into the blood and forcing myself up out of the mess.

But what I saw through the doorway stopped me in my tracks. It was the Cryogenics Room, from a different entrance. More blood trailed from the doorway and into the room and it was then that I realized where exactly it was coming from. The first seven or eight Chambers were broken open, glass strewn about on the floors. From the bits of meat and blood trailing down each of the Chambers, I could only guess that the bodies inside were torn out, one by one and dragged away while the Yautja searched for us. We had ultimately given the Aliens a chance to turn the tables in their favor.

Kneeling on the floor a dozen or so feet inside the room was another human. And he was alive; covered in blood, but still alive nonetheless. He was raising his hand in protest towards the Yautja with the spiked knuckles, pleading for his life. The Predator was raising his own weapon- a dagger- high above his head, readying himself for a strike against the pleading human. That was when I saw Lucy.

With a scream of rage, she tackled the Predator away from the Human, plunging her discus through his arm as she went. By the howls of pain coming from him- and the roars of anger coming from the others- I realized that I no longer had time to sit around and watch. Grabbing my weapon off of the floor again, and squeezing it tightly between my hands I charged into the room, ready to fight.

One of the Yautja was already dead. It looked as though Lucy had came up behind him and managed to slice his throat before he got a chance to fight back. She was handling one- but the other two I was left to deal with. They both were watching the fight develop between Lucy and their comrade- debating when to intervene most likely- with intent. So I took the chance to sneak my way around to the corner of the room. There was no way that I was going to survive. Not without some sort of miracle in the process- I knew that just from looking at my two opponents. But I had to at least try. If I waited, I knew they would kill Lucy, and then most likely come for me afterwards.

Full of fear, I charged forwards and with the loudest battle cry I could muster, I plunged my weapon through the first Yautja's back.

The battle had begun.

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**Authors Note: **_So, you guessed it. The next chapter will have another lovely fight scene in it. Some of you may be thinking something along the lines of "What the heck?" But it had to happen sooner or later. The trust had to be lost between the humans and Predators or else the horror factor of the story would suffer. Just think about it this way: How much scarier would it be if I had Lex and Lucy fighting the Xenomorphs with a whole herd of Yautja? Scary factor suffers._

_To those of you who still read this, please let me know what you think of it!_

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	9. Chapter Nine: Slaughterhouse

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Authors Note: **Thanks to one of my reviewers; I was finally clued in as to why no anonymous readers ever reviewed my work. Apparently I had set it so that no anonymous members could review way back when I first created this account. So, today I went in and changed the settings; so anyone who's anonymous and just doesn't feel like logging in to review, doesn't have to anymore!

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Nine: **_Slaughterhouse_

The Predator I'd impaled with my weapon seemed shocked by the blow. One moment, he had been watching a battle between Lucy, and a fellow Yautja; and the next he'd had something shoved through his insides. Instead of making a noise, he simply glanced down at the three serrated blades protruding from his stomach and chest. I used those moments to my advantage and gripped the weapon tighter and father towards his wound, before pulling upwards sharply. I could both hear- and feel- the unmistakable sound of flesh and muscle tearing open. Green blood began to dribble down from both the exit and entry wounds, gradually picking up speed by the time the first drop hit the floor.

The unharmed Yautja was also surprised by the sudden attack from behind, and stared for a moment at his comrades' wounds, before howling in rage when he realized he was literally watching his friends being murdered around him. Not wasting a second, I tugged backwards on the weapon, effectively tearing it from the Predator's body. This time he cried out in pain, his roars echoing around the room. I turned the staff in my hand, so it faced sideways, and slammed it against his back before he could turn to face me. The force of the blow was enough to knock him down- wounded, but not out.

The other Predator however, hadn't wasted any time in coming after me. I turned to face him, just in time to feel his fist connect with my face. I actually felt my feet lift off of the ground as the punch knocked me back against the wall. I slid down it, landing in a pile on the floor, my staff rolling out of my hands. The side of my face, and my ankle, both chose that moment to throb horribly, and I bit my lip to choke back tears. I could taste blood on my lips. My nose was bleeding. I didn't dwell over it though, as I was pulled up, off of the floor by my hair.

The Yautja's hand tangled in it, deep towards the roots. I could feel the weaker strands begin to give out, and I knew it wouldn't be long before my whole scalp would feel like it was on fire. I was literally helpless. I tried to kick my feet, and punch with my hands against his chest- but my attempts were nothing to him. Instead of flinching away from my attacks, he reached out with his other hand, and grasped my throat before letting go of my hair.

I was still suspended from the ground and my scalp only tingled slightly, but now my air supply was slowly being cut off. Over the Predator's shoulders, and behind his masked face, Lucy was still fighting with the Predator with the spiked knuckles.

It seemed like Lucy was winning the fight at the moment. Her discus was still gripped tightly in her hand, and she smirked proudly as the Predator's right hand hung by tiny sinews of muscle- where she'd cut through bone and almost amputated the entire hand. Behind Lucy, was the man she had saved. He was trying to hide behind a Cryogenic Chamber, currently without a weapon and experiencing his own sort of helplessness. I couldn't help but feel a burning desire to attack _him_ as I watched him cowering there, the oxygen slowly being cut to all my internal organs- slowly shutting me down. He was supposed to be a Warrior! Why wasn't he helping us fight? There were plenty of dead Yautja just lying around, waiting for their weapons to be stolen, and used against their own kind.

A roar of triumph from the Predator holding me brought me back into reality. Apparently, he wanted me paying full attention during my last moments. I found myself struggling again- pushing against his hands, and trying to break free. I kicked upwards with my left foot, and felt something press against my thigh. My hope for survival was renewed. I reached for my belt. Lucy had given me the dagger she couldn't fit into her own belt! I had almost forgotten about it- I had become so accustomed to using the weapon the Great Predator had given me.

My hand tightened around the hilt of the dagger, and I pulled it free from its holster; and plunged it directly into the Yautja's neckline, slicing through the wires of his mask, and his skin at the same time.

Once again, I was being thrown backwards towards the wall, as the Yautja struggled to get his mask off of his face. The cut wires were hissing violently- obviously not accustomed to being disconnected in such a manner- and swirled abound his face, casting a white smoke about in front of him. The mist was gathering, and didn't dissipate like I'd expected it to do. It would provide the perfect cover. "Hey!" I called out to the man, who had moved slightly closer to me now. "Get your ass into battle." I told him suddenly, throwing him the dagger. Like I'd hoped, he caught it in one fluid movement, and slowly stood up.

The Yautja I'd been facing tore the mask off, and tossed it to the left. It clattered against the ground, and the mist stopped spewing forth from his armor. Oh boy, he was pissed. I glanced around, searching for my weapon, but it was lost under the smoke. In a desperate attempt to save myself, I began to crawl away from him, further into the mist. My eyes strained to see anything, but I could hear him following behind me, breaking into a run. I rolled to the left, hoping to confuse him, and hit something- hard. Regaining my bearings as the mist was beginning to clear away, I realized that I'd found my way to the dead Predator.

It was a stroke of luck in my favor. I could have happened upon any of the three surviving Yautja, and the one I did find, just happened to be dead. His leathery dreadlocks were splayed about behind him, and his hands grasped at his throat in one last feeble attempt to try and save his life. His crimson eyes glared up through his mask, frozen in a wide-eyed stare. Without thinking I reached for his weapons belt. My hand closed around the butt of a gun.

I tugged at it, and it came loose easily. Spinning around, I watched through the clearing mist; the Predator approaching. I held my new weapon up in front of me, both hands clutched tightly around it. "Stop!" I told him, pointing the gun at him. I had no idea what kind of damage it would do if I shot it at him, but he seemed to take the hint. He stopped in his tracks, and tilted his head at me. He could have been cracking his neck, or challenging me; I wasn't quite sure, but I felt my finger close around the trigger anyway, and watched as a net shot forth and wrapped around him.

He flew backwards, and crashed against an empty Cryogenic Chamber. The glass cracked and shattered instantly, and he was pulled through it, and landed on the other side, the bolt from the net slamming into the floor of the ship behind him. I knew what was coming net. The net began to constrict around him, cutting into his flesh and muscle. Green blood seeped around the edges of the net as he struggled to get to his weapons belt. As he reached for it, I watched as one of his fingers came into contact with the net, and was sliced completely off.

It was then that I chose to turn away from him. I knew he didn't stand a chance trying to escape.

When I turned around, I found that the battle between Lucy and the last Yautja was still going on. The man we had saved stood near the downed body of the Predator I had fought, the dagger I had given him plunged into it throat. Lucy defiantly looked worse for the wear though. She had cuts on her cheek, and a she was backing away from battle, holding her left arm close to her chest, obviously protecting it. I did the only thing I could think of.

I grabbed my staff off of the floor, and held it in both hands, drawing it back over my head. Slowly, I approached the Yautja, as he purred towards his adversary in contempt. Both were at a standstill as I approached. Obviously, neither really wanted to continue the fight, knowing it would only be at the cost of more wounds for the both of them. Lucy could see me approaching, but didn't say anything, or even acknowledge my presence as I drew up behind the injured Yautja.

From behind, they really all looked the same. Their greenish-yellow mottled skin, leathery dreadlocks, and fishnet clothing with the loincloth they all wore. I couldn't help but feel like I was sneaking up behind Scar; the one predator who had ever really helped me more then once. It was almost like I was killing a part of him, as I raised the weapon above my head again, and brought it down swiftly, implanting the first blade directly down the center of his skull. He growled curiously as his body shook from the blow. His green blood began to roll down his face and over the steel of his mask, before he finally fell. I let the weapon go down with his corpse, shuddering as I gazed at the massacre in front of me.

Human blood mixed with the Yautja's on the floors of the Cryogenic Room. The odds had been stacked against all of us when we went into the battle; but still things had worked out in our favor. Luck was in our hands for the moment. _'Then why do I feel so sick over this?' _I was asking myself, over and over again, when Lucy suddenly spoke to me from her space across the room.

"Thanks." She said to me, and nodded towards the corpse of the Predator I'd just killed. "He was relentless, huh? Just wouldn't give up, no matter what I through at him." She started saying, a smirk on her face. "That was one 'hell of a ride' as I think your people say now. Am I?"

I interrupted her, by raising a hand up to stop her and speaking quickly. "Don't." I said for the second time in five minutes. This time was different though. I was asking her pleadingly; as I wished for the whole situation I had been placed in just to go away for a few minutes. "I'm not in the mood." I told her, wiping the blood away from my mouth and nose, before turning and trudging out from the room. I was done with the battling. It wasn't the thing for me, and I'd known it all along. I wasn't a Warrior… Lucy had made sure I knew that. But for some reason, my mind had persisted on telling me that I could battle and be just like Lucy.

I didn't want that anymore.

"What should I do about the bodies in here?" I heard Lucy call after me from the doorway. She could have been talking about the dead Yautja, or the humans still sleeping soundlessly, unaware of the slaughter that had been taking place outside of their Cryogenic Chambers while they slept. "Lex, what's wrong?" She asked me, her voice fainter this time as I continued down the corridor, limping slightly as I went along. I could feel her eyes, burning into me as she stared after me.

I ignored her.

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**Authors Note: **Well, there we are. I'm debating whether or not I'm pleased with this chapter… It ended up in places I didn't intend on taking it in the first place, and took me longer to write then most of the others because I kept changing things. Please tell me how you liked it, and what I probably should have done to make it better. I've been getting less and less reviews lately, and I'd really like to be able to make this fic better and more enjoyable for everyone. Thanks to all you guys.

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	10. Chapter Ten: The Long Haul

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Authors Note:** _Hey, I'm back again for Chapter Ten. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be taking this fic. I haven't been too happy with the chapters as of late, so I might just hurry up and tie things up in the next four or five chapters… I guess it really depends on how I feel as I'm writing this. More then likely that I'll go all out, and write it how I was going to in the first place, even though people seem to be losing interest. Enjoy._

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**Warrior**

**Chapter Ten: **_The Long Haul_

I did my best to avoid Lucy, (as well as whatever Predators were still alive on the ship,) for the next few hours. The first thing I knew I needed, above all else- was another bath. I was covered from head to toe in Yautja and Human blood. If I were to be spotted by a Yautja now, all evidence of what we had done would literally be found on me. I didn't go back to my own room though. There was nothing there for me to retrieve anyway; so I instead went to the 'A' wing of the ship, where more of the rooms were located. I eventually chose one near the back of the wing. It looked very similar to my old room and almost felt like a new safe place.

I stepped into the room and heard the door slid back down into place behind me, and was able to breathe easy for the first time in what was probably an hour by now. I hadn't felt truly at ease since the incident with the Xenomorph in the vents. I tried not to touch anything, as I kicked off my Predator boots onto the floor near the door, and set about on my way to the shower, stripping out of my bloodied clothes as I went. I carried everything into the bathroom with me, and dropped it all into the sink before turning to the shower.

The bathroom was almost identical to the old bathroom. I half expected to get into the shower, only to have another Predator burst into my bedroom and try and kill me again. But I knew I couldn't exactly live in fear for the rest of my days; so instead I turned the water on and stepped under the flowing torrent. The water got warm quickly, and I turned my face up towards the rain of water, letting the blood be washed away from myself. I wasn't exactly sure if my nose was still bleeding anymore, but I really didn't much care anymore. So what if I bled? At least I knew I was still human.

I'd been debating it for some time during my time on the ship. As if becoming a Warrior for the Yautja had somehow made me less human. The way I had killed mercilessly seemed to point in that direction though. Before the expedition in the Antarctic, I had led a normal, and happy life. I had my family, (minus my father,) and I'd been saving up money to finally get out of that apartment in New York I'd been living in since college. I had over seven seasons of time on the ice, but none of that mattered once we'd entered the temple underneath the ice. Without my watch, which had been taken along with the rest of my clothing when the Great Predator healed my wounds, I wasn't even sure how many days had elapsed since I'd signed on for the job.

The water was similar to a cleansing. All my aches and pains, mental and physical were washed away as I debated what I would do next- if there was a 'next' in my future. I washed and rinsed the blood out of my hair without shampoo, as I wasn't about to use whatever it was the Yautja used on their own hair to treat mine. The water made its way into all my cuts and bruises and stung painfully, snapping me out of my realm of thought. The water was nearly scalding now; so I turned it off, and grabbed a towel from the rack that was beside the shower.

Stepping out, I turned the water in the sink on, and let the blood from the day slowly be washed out of my clothing, and off of my armor. The Predator blood didn't stain, that was a plus. But the human blood was less reluctant to leave, and I couldn't help but think as I looked into the mirror above the sink that my own skin had a rather pinkish tinge to it. Shuddering, and hoping that it wasn't from the blood I'd fallen in; but rather just an after effect from how hot the water in the shower had been.

I dressed quickly, and instead of sleeping, like I'd planned, I found myself walking out of my bedroom, and wandering the hallways of the ship. There were too many unanswered questions to just ignore what I'd seen. And even if I did ignore it, it would only be a matter of time before I was dragged away in my sleep and harvested like all the rest had been. So, for the time being, sleep was out of the question for me.

The ship was strangely silent now; and if I had to guess, the only obvious answer to me was that the Yautja we hadn't fought, were probably already taken to the depths of the ship by the Xenomorphs. They had spawned so quickly, just like they had in the Temple, I hadn't failed to notice it. I guessed it was just another effect of the Predator's meddling with their breeding habits and genetics. _'They'd brought this on themselves.' _I thought to myself, as I walked past the doorway to the bridge. The bridge. I had only needed to glance into the room in passing to know that there was something different, and off from the last time I had seen it.

I stepped backwards and looked inside the room again, to realize a number of things were different. Through the glass window, out in the darkness of space, a planet was growing larger in the distance. It was so tiny at the moment that it barely looked like a little green rubber ball; but it was defiantly a planet. I had no idea how fast we were traveling, or where the un-piloted ship was taking us- but I had a feeling that it would only be another day or two before we arrived. Potentially unleashing a horde of killing machines onto another unsuspecting people.

I didn't have time to dwell on the possibility of a whole other civilization crumbling, as another thing hit me. Scars' body was gone. I nearly ran forward, down the metal flooring and towards the empty pedestal at the other end of the room. It was then that the third fault of the room hit me. Green blood was dripping downwards _onto _the table. A chill ran up my spine, as I watched the blood slowly splatter into the center of a widening puddle that as it moved over the edge, dripped onto the floor. My whole body seemed to shake with fear at what I might see.

'_Don't be Scar.' _I told the body above me, as I gathered courage to look up and finally see whom it was. I didn't think I could deal with seeing Scar's body hanging from the ceiling. I might have just been another slave to him- but I still felt a connection with him from the Temple. I clenched my fists tightly and forced myself to look upwards. A mixture between a sigh, and a cry of displeasure swarmed through me at the same time. It wasn't Scar.

But it was the Great Predator. A thin metal chain was wrapped around his ankles and feet, and was tied tightly around a row of pipes leading down the ceiling of the room. His throat had been sliced, and at least four or five of his thick dreadlocks had been sliced off completely. He was murdered by one of his own kind. It couldn't have happened all that long ago either, or the body would have been bled dry. On his mask, which he was wearing again, new symbols had been etched in by something undoubtedly very sharp. I frowned as I wished I could understand the Yautja's tongue just to be able to decipher what I was reading.

"I found him a while ago," A voice spoke softly from the door behind me. I was startled to say the least, and pivoted around on the spot, to stare at Lucy, who was standing alone in the doorway. She seemed reluctant to approach me, as if she was scared I was going to run away and ignore her again. Instead of fleeing, I motioned for her to enter the room. "After you had left me alone to clean up the mess in the Cryo Room." She elaborated as she stepped inside and walked across the room towards me. "But I did have Matthew there to help me." She added as an afterthought.

"Is that his name?" I asked, remembering the man I'd thrown my dagger to, in order for him to help us out. My tone of voice surprised even me. It was oddly emotionless and uninterested, and sounded completely unlike me. I coughed slightly, and cleared my throat before speaking again, hoping that would right the problem. "Any idea what these symbols mean?" I asked, pointing up at the deceased clan leaders' mask.

Lucy took a few moments, to gaze upwards again and read over the symbols again before nodding to herself and speaking out loud. "Yeah, the ones that look natural on the mask represent this Yautja's higher status in his clan." She explained, pointing up to the marks that had been etched onto his mask long before I knew him. "These other marks however; they mark him as a traitor to his kind. Whoever killed him wanted to be sure that whoever found his body knew that he was held in the lowest regard." She said.

"But I thought he was well liked." I said, thoroughly confused. "How did he become a clan leader if he wasn't?" I asked. It was becoming more and more clear to myself that the more I tried to understand about the Predators, the less I really was able to comprehend.

"He was." Lucy said, and turned to look at me for the first time since we'd begun speaking again. Her eyes were filled with something close to fear as she looked at me, trying to figure out how to break the bad news in some way that I would be able to understand. "This was done by a Bad Blood." She finally decided on saying.

Needless to say- I remained confused.

"What's a Bad Blood?" I asked, stepping away from the widening pool of green blood and towards the large bay window. I decided on staring out into the vast expanse of space, so I didn't have to feel like a total idiot as Lucy had to explain yet another aspect of the Yautja to me.

"Only about five percent of the Yautja race are Bad Bloods, because they are rooted out by the time they come of age. They constantly undermine the authority of their clans and the Arbitrators within them." Lucy said, stepping up beside me at the window. She took me by the arm and turned me to her. "The situation has gotten that much more dangerous. Whoever killed the Clan Leader, did so to teach us a lesson. He was the last ally we had on our side up here, and I'm willing to guess that whoever killed him, is willing to come after us next."

"If the Xenomorphs haven't finished him off already." I said darkly, tugging slightly to free my arm from Lucy's grip. It hadn't escaped my notice that Scars' disappearance went hand in hand with the death of the Great Predator. There was just no way that he had survived having a Chestburster emerge from his chest, as well as kill his leader afterwards. _'Or is there a chance?' _My mind asked me. _'You don't know anything about these creatures. Why is it so improbable that not even death is what it seems in this place?' _I shook the thought from my head and looked up at Lucy again. "Well if we're in as much trouble as we think we are- we're going to need backup."

I was back in the fight again. The smallest possibility that Scar was somehow involved in all that was going on here stabbed at my heart, but I had to know the truth. And the only way that I was going to discover anything was sticking it out. I was in for the long haul.

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**Authors Note: **_-cackles evilly- don't you love me for my awesome little cliffhanger chapters, that give you just enough 'what if' information, but no actual proof to any of the possibilities?_

_Anyway, there's good news here. I think I know how I'm going to end this now. And there will most likely be two alternate endings involved, just because one is the way I would like the story to end, and the other leaves it open to a possible sequel in the future. But that's all quite a few chapters away at the moment. So please, let me know what you think of the story so far!

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